Metal ornamentation.



PATENTED MAR. s, 1908.

G, E. PRENTIGB. METAL ORNAMENTATION. APPLICATION FILED JUNE 3, 1905. RENEWED OCT. 3, 1907.

I W FXWW wa 8 .m 3 EH 5. Y ME m H M 1 E A m A E UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORGE E. PRENTICE, OF NEW BRITAIN, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE TRAUT & HINE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, ACORPORATION OF CONNECTICUT.

METAL ORNAMENTATION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented March 3, 1908.

A li ati n fil d June 3. 1905' Serial No. 263.661. Renewed October 3. 1907.- Serial No. 395.759-

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE E. PRENTICE, a citizen of the United States, and resident of New Britain, Connecticut, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Metal Ornamentation, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

My invention relates to decorated articles and the process of making the same; and more particularly relates .to the decoration of snap fasteners for gloves or other articles, bucklesand the like; and it consists in the novel method or art hereinafter described and claimed of mechanically combining or uniting metals of different kinds or color with a line of decoration of a predetermined ornamental contour, in the process of manufacture of such articles or the parts thereof to be ornamented.

My invention also consists in the method of making such ornamental parts when made with such method of ornamentation.

Articles of the nature above specified, as for example, glove fasteners, are usually made in very large quantities by methods of manufacture, and by machines in which are, of necessity, sought the results which are found indispensable in practical experience, namely: cheapness and simplicity of manufacture, minimum number of steps, durability, etc.

The objects of my invention are to provide a new ornamentation and a new method or 'process for its production in the class of method of making the same, and will then f point out the novel features in claims.

For the purpose of illustration I have confined the drawings to a form of snap or glove fastener, although manifestly I might have illustrated a buckle or similar article in which the same conditions obtain.

The specific instance illustrated is one showing the application of my invention to a portion, namely: the visible portion of a snap fastener such as is shown in prior patents, for example, the Patent 566,731 issued to George E. Adams Sept. 1, 1896. Inasmuch as such Patent 566,731 describes the manufacture of the fastener therein illustrated, the description herein will be abbreviated in such regard, and stress will be laid upon the production of the ornamental design or the fastener part containing such design. As will be seen the fastener part to which I have shown the design applied, is the part which appears above the fabric or leather of a glove, and which has often been referred to in the prior art as the button portion.

In the accompanying drawings Figure 1 shows a piece of plain metal such for example, as brass, from which may be cut out a blank of the form shown in Fig. 2 from which it is intended to form a part of asnap fastener. Fig. 3 represents a plain piece of metal of a different kind or color, such for example, as aluminium, and from which may be cut with a suitable die or punch, .a blank of the form shown in Fig. 4 which has the special ornamental design to be applied to the fastener part. Fig. 5 represents the part shown in Fig. 2 after the same has been perforated with a suitable punch and die of a special ornamental design. Fig. 6 represents the blank of Fig. 5 having inserted into the perforation thereof the ornamental blank ofFig. 4 of different kind or color metal. Fig. 7 is a cross section taken on the line 77 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 shows the duplex or bi-metallic blank of Fig. 7 after the same has been struck up into a different form as will be hereinafter described. Fig. 9 represents the same after further operations of striking up, as will be clear from said prior patent 566,731, in which condition the fastener part is ready for application to the material to which the fastener is to be applied. Fig. 10 is a central cross section of the completed fastener part shown in Fig. 9.

Similar letters of reference designate corre sponding parts in the several figures of the drawings.

A, Fig. 2 represents a blank as of brass.

a, Fig. 4, represents an ornamental blank of a metal of different kind or color, such as aluminium.

B represents the blank A after the same has been perforated for the insertion of the ornamental blank a.

C, Fig. 6, representsthe same after the ornamental blank (I has been pressed into place, the same then constituting a duplex or bimetallic blank.

In carrying out my improved process I have preferably em loyed the following steps and in substantial y the order which I will describe. After cutting out of a sheet of brass or suitable material, and by any suit able or well known machinery, the blanks A are then passed into a machine in which. are provided an ordinary flat die and a punch of the special ornamental design to be applied to the fastener part. This punch serves to perforate the blank by actually removing there from metal of the desired design, the result being a blank such as B shown in Fig. 5, where a star-shaped outline in the center represents the perforation of the desired ornamental design. I/Vith the same, or a similar punch, are now out out of the sheet of aluminium ornamental blanks such as a which will be identical in outline with the perforation in the blanks B; but the former will preferably be of slightly thicker material. The two blanks will now be fitted together forming the duplex or bi-metallic blanks C of Figs. 6 and 7. Sometimes a slight pressure is necessary to assemble the parts, and at this stage of the operation it might also be desirable to apply a very heavy crushing pressure which would serve to flatten the ornamental blank which is of thicker material causing it to expand within the perforation of blank C. I prefer, however, to apply such crushing pressure at the same time that the blank C is struck up into the form shown in Fig. 8. It will be obvious that if the pressure is sufficiently great to crush the ornamental blank and reduce it to the thickness of that of the principal metal forming the blank B the former will be expanded. This I have found will cause the ornamental blank to be permanently secured in place with adhesion sufficient to preclude accidental displacement. By combining the two steps, namely: that of crushing the ornamental blank, and that of striking up the edges of the principal blank, I dispense with one operation, and at the same time preclude the possibility of the ornamental blank becoming dis laced during such striking up operation. fter the blank has been struck up in the form shown in Fig. 8 it may be further treated in accordance with the said prior patent 566,731 as the a particular construction of the snap fastener may require.

For the best results the' visible surface of the fastener part will then be olished by any well known method, which found may be done with a facility equal to that of polishing the fastener part not comprised of two metals.

When the crushing pressure is applied to reduce the thickness of and expand the ornamental blank, and at the same time effect the striking up of the principal blank, a bead or other ornamental impression may at the same time be formed in the blank by suitably designed dies.

In some instances, as for example, when the metals employed are brass and aluminium I have found that a highly ornamental effect may be produced by a chemical treatment. Thus, for example, by treating with a suitable acid a satin finish may be effected upon the brass, while aluminium, unaffected by the acid, will retain its high polish. In the same way certain acid treatments may be employed that will produce a black or-blue effect on one of the metals only. 7

Important features of the above described invention are that no trimming of metal becomes necessary after the ornamental blank has been crushed and expandedinto adhesive contact with the other metal; and it is further unnecessary to undercut or dovetail or otherwise especially adapt the edges to be joined for this purpose. This is rendered practicable by reason of my preferred method in which the crushing of the ornamental blank is effected during the striking up, or rendering convex the portions of the principal blank adjacent to said ornamental blank, and if, as I have suggested, the ornamental blank shall be crushed while the whole is in the flat form shown in Fig. 7, even then I prefer to maintain during the striking up process, a sufiiciently high pressure upon the ornamental portion of the blank to preclude its displacement.

What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. The method of ornamenting thin sheet metal which consists in so forming therein a perforation of the desired outline that the sides of the erforation are at right angles to the faces of the metal, forming a blank of greater thickness than the metal and of the same outline as the perforation, and with its edges at right angles to its faces, placing the blank within the perforation, and applying sufficient pressure to reduce the thickness of the blank and expand it into efficient holding contact with the perforation,

2. A sheet metal article having a perforation the edges of which are at right angles to the faces of the metal, and a blank of the same outline as the perforation and having its edges likewise at right angles to its faces,

.the said blank being held within said perforation by cohesion resulting from a thinning and Widening of the blank by pressure applied while the blank is within the perforation.

3. The method of ornamenting thin sheet metal consisting in perforating the same with a punch and die of the special design; cutting out with the same or similar die from thicker metal of different color an ornamental blank; inserting the latter into the former, the'edges of both being at right angles to the faces thereof, whereby a moderate compression produces perfect cohesion of the edges; and applying sufficient pressure to compress and reduce the thickness of the ornamental blank, thereby expanding it into efiicient holding contact to prevent accidental displacement, and dispensing with soldering.

4. The method of manufacturing ornamental buckles, snap fasteners or the like, consisting in taking a flat sheet of the principal metal from which the buckle or fastener is to be made; perforating it of the ornamental design, the edges of the er'foration being at right angles to the face 0 the metal; similarly perforating a slightly greater thickness of different metal to produce an ornamental blank; setting the blank in the perforation of the principal metal; and then stamping the latter up, out of the flat, into the shape desired for use in a buckle, fastener or the like, with a pressure sufficiently great to also reduce the thickness of the orna-v mental blank, thereby expanding it into intimate contact with the principal metal whereby the cohesion will be sufficient to prevent accidental displacement thereof.

5. The method of manufacturing ornamental buckles, snap fasteners or the like,

consisting in taking a flat sheet of the princip al metal from which the buckle or fastener is to be made; perforating it of the ornamental design, the edges of the perforation being at right angles to the face of the metal; similarly perforating sheet metal of different kind to produce an ornamental blank; setting said blank in said perforation and then afterward by machine pressure reducing the blank in thickness thereby eXpandin it into intimate contact with the principa metal whereby the resulting cohesion will be sufli cient to prevent accidental displacement thereof, and shaping the principal metal up out of the flat into the shape desired for use in a buckle fastener or the like.

6. An ornamental buckle, snap fastener or the like consisting principally of sheet metal of one kind of the desired shape, with a perforation therein of ornamental design and the edges of the perforation being at right angles to the faces of the metal, and an ornamental blank of the same design but of different metal having its edges likewise at right angles to its faces, the said blankbeing held within said perforation by cohesion resulting from a thinning and widening of the blank by pressure applied while the blank is within the perforation; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 27th day of May, A. D., 1905.

' GEORGE E. PRENTICE.

In presence of A. C. STERNBERG, SADIE L. FINNIGAN. 

